Sure, ideally at least one of those 2 OOC FCS games would be a home game against a team like Drake, Valparaiso, or Butler (FCS, but non-scholarship) or SWAC or MEAC team like Mississippi Valley State, Southern University, or Morgan State. Something generally fairly easily "winnable" (assuming we're not in a SEVERE down year). Not saying there aren't good teams in the MEAC or SWAC, but there are also some...well...really not very good teams there too. Mississippi Valley State, for example, lost 71-0 to Jacksonville State this year, and lost 72-7 to NDSU and 55-3 to SIU last year. Arkansas Pine-Bluff is also in the SWAC...that's the team that lost 90-6 to South Dakota State last weekend.GV Dad wrote: ↑Tue Sep 18, 2018 11:42 am I would like to see us schedule a Power 5 and 2 easy Ws in our Non Con every year. Get the $$ and recruiting benefit from playing the P5. But playing Montana, Montana State and schools like those really have no benefit to a MVFC team. We don't need them to raise our SOS with the Conf teams we face. Much more beneficial to start every year 2-1 for playoff positioning.
They still count for the playoffs, but maybe would give the new players a chance to get their feet wet before having to prove themselves against top 25 ranked Big Sky teams, for example. The problem though, is that the Big Sky and some other teams will go in on a H&H with us, and we don't have to pay them any $. I think with the Pioneer League as well as SWAC and MEAC, it seems like the games are usually 1-and-done. So the host school is paying them to show up. And as we all know, $ is something of an issue right now.
The MVFC/Big Sky scheduling agreement is kinda fun, but it also means you're playing some good teams and having to fight for every win. The good news is that next year we'll have North Alabama (they could be the next NDSU, but it should take them a couple of years), Montana State (not easy), Tennessee Tech (should be able to win that one pretty easily), and Colorado State as our FBS. Colorado State plays Illinois State this Saturday, but they're only favored by ~6 points, so it's something of a "winnable" FBS game.
Still, going down the road, I'd really like to see us bring in more Pioneer League schools, especially from our region.